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February 25, 2014

BladeMaster Class

Dage's Early Birthday Present!

Everybody (except a pirate) loves a Ninja. Every team has a master of stealth. G.I. Joe has Snake Eyes. Cobra has Storm Shadow. The Autobots (G1) have Mirage. The Thundercats have Tigra. AE has Thyton and the Undead Legion has the BladeMaster.

This is the NEW CLASS coming TOMORROW in the first wave of Dage's Birthday Shop.

Dage's actual birthday isn't until Sunday but Dage wanted to release this early so you would have time to rank it up before the day arrives. But what is a BladeMaster without his or her blades?

Pictured above, from left to right, you can see:

The BladeMaster Fauchard (sword, 50,000 gold, Legend Only)

The BladeMaster Katana (sword, 250 AC)

The BladeMaster Sword (sword, 50,000 gold for everyone)

The BladeMaster Dual Weapons (Dagger, one in each hand, 300 AC)

There are 2 ways to get the class:

BladeMaster Class (2000 ACs)

BladeMaster Class (2000 Legion Tokens)

Dage wanted a way for his dedicated followers to get the class through blood, sweat and tears. Both versions of the class and the weapons are all going RARE, but that won't be for at least a month so you have time to get those Legion Tokens.

But let's stop kidding ourselves. We're all here to see what the class has to offer other than a pretty face. Balancing testing classes and writing class breakdowns were always some of my favorite parts of the job while I was working on AQW, so I'm very happy to be able to do it again in my week filling in for the vacationing Alina. Without further ado, I present the...

BLADEMASTER CLASS SKILLS BREAKDOWN

Dage had a lot to say about the development of this class. He wanted it to be stealthy and roguelike but unquestionably strong considering its rare nature. It is definitely a powerhouse and if you use it right, you're pretty close to unstoppable.

Normally I suggest a build and encourage you to play around and find a build that works for you but, this time, If you're not using Thief Enhancements then you are wasting your own time. The class THRIVES on Dodge so all you want is Dexterity.

Some of the skills are fast and others are slow but what you want to balance here it your MANA usage to really master this class. You'll see what I'm talking about .

NUKITSUKE

1.75 second cooldown

A blade strike from the hilt, fast enough to hit before your opponent gets a chance to act..

Did you catch that? This is your autoattack but it goes off every 1.75 secs, not the standard 2 secs. Being built on the rogue MANA regen model, you get MANA back with every auto attack, so this keeps the MANA flowing in at a faster rate than any other class that does this.

BLADEFURY

15 MANA, 9 second cooldown

Unleash a fury of steel striking at up to 4 targets.

This is your only AoE (area of effect) attack. You have to have them grouped pretty tightly but this can pull 4 enemies onto you at once. Sounds like a bad idea? WRONG.

Again, this model of class generates MANA from every auto attack, but also from every Dodge that you manage to pull off. You also get Health back every time you dodge. If your build is sufficiently Dex heavy, then you will be dodging at least 4 enemies at a time with this skill, giving you life and the juice you need to keep stabbing monster face from every direction.

This is not the strongest attack but can help whittle down the group at a friendly pace. Don't want to kill them too fast or you lose your MANA/HP generators.

UKE NEGASHI

20 MANA, 25 second cooldown

A technique used to deflect incoming attacks and strike back at your target. Grants Evasion increasing dodge by 20% and critical strike chance by 10%.

Another slow cooldown but this power will become your bread and butter. 20% Dodge, on top of what you're already generating means more survivability, more MANA and more HP for you. 10% bonus crit means more damage AND more MANA since Crits generate additional MANA.

IT'S MANAFEST 2014 UP IN HERE!

SEVER

25 MANA, 9 second cooldown

Deals moderate damage and disables your opponents ability to fight back significantly reducing all damage they deal for the next 5 seconds.

Decent damage here. This will probably end up being your main damage skill due to the cooldown, which means it will probably be where most of your MANA goes, so watch it. In addition to doing decent damage, it also nerfs your enemy's damage for 5 seconds adding even more to your survivability.

KEEN REFLEXES & TECHNIQUE

Rank 4 passives

Increases critical strike damage 20% and dodge chance by 15%

Increases dexterity by 10%

20% more Crit Damage which just goes straight into butt-kicking and 15% more Dodge which means more survivability, more MANA and more HP for you. 10% more Dex means the same.

NUKIUCHI

35 MANA, 10 second cooldown

Attempt to split your target in two with a powerful strike. Has a chance to stun your target for 2 seconds.

Here's your Nuke. This is a HEAVY damage attack. It eats a lot of MANA and has a pretty short cooldown for such a powerful attack so you'll be tempted to spam it, but you'll run out of juice very quickly doing that. Use it wisely, wait until the moment is right to strike. It also has a 50% chance to stun your target for 2 seconds which is just icing as far as I'm concerned.

TANDEN

Rank 10 passive

Increases dexterity and damage done by 10%

Does exactly what it says. More Dex and all the goodness that it brings with it and even more damage.

Seems like this class would be a monster is PvP but I didn't get a chance to try it there personally so I'll be interested to hear your feedback. Between the dodge, the enemy damage debuff and a 50% stun chance there is NO reason that any BladeMaster should EVER die unless they want to go AFK to make a sandwich mid-fight. Even then, I'd say this beast has a pretty good chance of staying alive on autopilot until you come back, sandwich in hand.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that the Essence of the Undead Legend will also be in the shop, as usual at the normal 2 MILLION gold pricetag.